Combined hepatitis vaccine available

JAKARTA: Four years after its invention, a combined hepatitis A and B vaccine is now available in Indonesia, its producer says.

The vaccine, called Twinrix, had less side-effects than earlier vaccinations and meant one-stop hepatitis prevention useful for busy people, said Rajendra Hendrajied, the Clinical Research Manager of GlaxoSmithKline Indonesia.

"We have combined the two vaccines because there is an overlap in the infections, which means that when a person is infected with hepatitis B, they might also be infected with hepatitis A too," he said. -- JP